MOOSEHEART, Nov. 4 - When he got his team together for its opening practice of the season, Bryan Miller started by mentioning the calendar when Mooseheart's girls basketball players were last together as a playing unit.

"Feb. 9 was the date of our last basketball game," Miller began, and proceeded to remind the team of their season-ending loss to Elgin Academy in the opening round of the Hinckley-Big Rock Class 1A Regional.

With that, the Ramblers opened their 2009-10 series of preseason practices on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The team ran through the usual series of drills and conditioning exercises, but began with that reminder of the 35-28 loss, a defeat that ended Mooseheart's last season as an independent school with a 14-8 girls' basketball record.

"I want to stress to them that the feeling of losing that regional game last year can transition into this year," Miller said.

Miller begins his fourth season as Mooseheart coach with a series of accomplishments. Two years ago, the girls' team won a playoff game for the first time in a generation. Last year, the Ramblers finished above-.500 for the first time in his coaching tenure. But the way the season ended left some of the squad in tears as they left the court, wishing things had ended a little differently.

This year, Mooseheart enters the Northeastern Athletic Conference and will play for conference honors for the first time. To that end, and as he has done every year he has coached the Ramblers, Miller has chosen a theme to attempt to unify his squad.

"Our theme this year is 'Together,'" Miller said. "Everything we talk about is going to be 'together.' It's 'together this' and 'together that.' We want to dress as a team, we want to think like a team and have a sense of excitement together as a team."

Mooseheart has two talented juniors around which to form its team this year in Katie Stryker and Santana Sanchez. The pair took turns leading the Ramblers in scoring last year in most games.

"It's their third year in the program and probably their fifth or sixth year playing together, coming up through middle school," Miller said. "We're obviously looking for a lot of on-court and off-court leadership from those two as well as their point production. We want to see our juniors and seniors take leadership on those little things that matter, whether it's in the locker room, at home or on the court when they're talking to each other."

Mooseheart graduated large group of seniors - scorers such as Basheeba Mays, forwards such as Kim Phillips and inside players such as Krystal Ellsworth and Sandra Tolson were among that group. All logged considerable minutes a year ago.

"A lot of intangibles we lost last year besides talent," Miller said. "This year, we're going to see who steps up and fills those roles."
Close to 10 juniors are on the girls basketball roster this year. For the second consecutive year, the turnout to play the sport is massive - some 31 girls will form the two competitive Ramblers teams.

A third probable starter is junior Cayana Samuelson. Sophomore Arranda Patton-Stuart is one of the team's few inside players, the area hit hardest by graduation. Beyond that, Miller said that there is a fifth starting spot that is very much up for grabs.

"That 4 spot (power forward)," Miller said. "It could pretty much go to anyone. We'll see what happens in the next two weeks. I'm not worried about filling it. We have some girls who can hustle and who will play."

The idea of playing in conference competition is also a motivator for this year's Mooseheart team. The squad's first NAC contest is Dec. 10 at Christian Life in Rockford.

"That conference championship is going to be one of our goals, which I'm sure the other schools in the conference will have as a goal too," Miller said. "I cannot wait to see what other teams have in terms of athletic ability and sportsmanship. I'm definitely looking forward to some conference play."